UK streamer Amavizion launches SA-set sitcom Shambles as first microseries

Shambles follows three chaotic flatmates in Cape Town

UK-based pay-per-view streaming platform Amavizion has launched a raunchy micrositcom set in South Africa, marking its first commission as part of its vertical originals initiative.

Shambles launched on July 15 and is described as an “outrageous, boundary-pushing 18-plus comedy” about three housemates living together in Cape Town as their ambitions, relationships and bad decisions spiral into chaos.

Directed and produced by Bonnie Rodini (Good Life, The Story of an African Farm) and produced by South Africa’s Rodini Films, it stars Angela Daytona Wu, Anathi Godlo and David Viviers.

The show is made up of 36 episodes running 45 seconds to two minutes each, totalling 45 minutes of television designed to be viewed on mobile. The full season is available for £1.49 (US$2.01).

Amavizion, which launched last year, is aimed at a multi-lingual audience and features world cinema, TV series, documentaries and vertical originals on a pay-per-view basis.

Rodini said: “Inspired by true stories and made for sharing, Shambles is about adulting under pressure – and the friendship that makes survival possible.”

Phil Ox, head of programming at Amavizion, said: “Let’s be honest, vertical television is the north face of the Annapurna of this industry. Most people look at it and turn back. Shambles doesn’t. It climbs all the way up, fearlessly, brilliantly and for a price that makes the whole thing even more unreasonable. In the best possible way.”

Gaurav Kanabar, co-founder of Amavizion, said: “At Amavizion, vertical is not a side project – it lives in our mobile apps, in microdramas like Shambles that you can watch in the gaps in your day.

“If you are curious about what comes after old-school TV, it is there, in your hand, running in 40-second bursts.”